Game Boy screen issues -- is it a lost cause?

[noiseredux]

so I tested this old Game Boy last night -- it's in great physical condition. It powered on, but there seems to be two lines in the screen running straight up in down on the left and right sides. Almost like letterbox but on the sides. Is this common? Easy to fix? Or is this thing junk now?

[PhilExile]

I remember those annoying lines appearing less than a month after I got a GameBoy in 1991. Those screens were terrible. Maybe there is a fix though.

I actually remember the refresh rate being so bad that I never got anything aside from Tetris, Super Mario Land, Castlevania, and Dr. Mario.

[Niode]

Check the connection to the digitizer. They could have come lose/corroded. The fact that that the screen is working partially means that there's a loose connection somewhere.

[noiseredux]

Check the connection to the digitizer. They could have come lose/corroded. The fact that that the screen is working partially means that there's a loose connection somewhere.

di..gi..tizer?

[avrame]

di..gi..tizer?

[noiseredux]

seriously... I don't know what that is.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Digitizer meaning the digital encoder chip leading to the screen's ribbon cable.

[HellHammer]

I had this same issue with my orginal GB from my childhood.

Over the years the lines appeared, not sure why, but I needed to keep the GB itself, if not just for the nostalgia.
Long story short, I went to a swapmeet and got a beat up POS GB with a working screen opened both up and swapped the good screen into my good GB and BAM!

It was a pretty easy procedure (with the help of youtube videos), which was a huge plus.

[sevin0seven]

funny you bring this up. my original GB also has this problem. i guess i have to check the di..gi..tizer.

[noiseredux]

hmm. Anybody want a good looking GB with some lines in the screen?